Watch Your Water Use

Saving water saves energy, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It takes a lot of energy to treat the water you use every day to make it safe to drink and to deliver it to your house. It takes even more energy to turn it into hot water. Did you know that letting your faucet run warm water for five minutes uses about as much energy as leaving a 60–watt light bulb on for 14 hours?

Be water–wise. Turn the water off while brushing your teeth, and try taking shorter showers. Learn more ways you can save water, then test your water sense.

Fix that faucet. A faucet that leaks at a rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water in a year.

Look for leaks. If your toilet has a leak, you could be wasting 200 gallons of water a day. Try putting a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color shows up in the bowl without flushing, you have a leak!

Keep it cool. Wash only full loads of laundry, and use cold water instead of hot. About 90 percent of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water.

Go low–flow. Talk with your family about installing water–efficient appliances and plumbing fixtures like low-flow showerheads.